Press Gazette's Media 100 Network

Katie Vanneck-Smith will join Hearst UK as Chief Executive Officer in December.
Katie is driven by innovation in the media industry. Having worked for both large corporations and built a successful startup, Katie surrounds herself with like-minded individuals looking to break down barriers and disrupt the status quo.
Prior to Hearst, Katie Vanneck-Smith co-founded and was publisher of Tortoise Media. Tortoise is a slow media news platform, committed to looking at what is driving the news and sharing cutting edge stories. The platform is built on a membership model that is inclusive and open - www.tortoisemedia.com. Katie and the team built the Tortoise community over 100,000 members in just two years.
Katie has held other positions including President of Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, where she led the company to over three million subscribers, the largest number in WSJ history. She also has previously worked at leading UK broadsheets including the Telegraph Media Group and The Times. At The Times, Katie was Chief Marketing Officer, some of her achievements included strategizing and the early move of the newspaper to paid digital subscriptions as well as creating the UK’s first news membership brand, Times+. Katie also oversaw the company’s events programmes, including both the Wall Street Journal CEO Council and the Times CEO Summit.

Anna Bateson is CEO of Guardian Media Group. Prior to this, she was CEO of Josh Wood Colour. Before her time at Josh Wood, Anna spent 4 years at the Guardian where she was Chief customer officer, and laterly interim CEO. During her time the Guardian returned to financial stability with over a million supporters paying the Guardian either in a recurring relationship or as a one off donation.

She was a member of the GMG Ventures Advisory Committee, and consistently championed the Guardian’s purpose in all commercial work, advocating for the accreditation as a B Corp in 2019, launching the first Environmental pledge to readers and driving the decision to no longer accept fossil fuel advertising.

Anna has had a varied career in media and marketing having spent seven years at Google/YouTube, and prior to that ITV and MTV.

M. Scott Havens is the Chief Executive Officer of Bloomberg Media, Bloomberg L.P.'s global multi-platform media organization. Since joining the company in November 2015, Scott has played an integral role in the digital transformation and globalization of the Bloomberg Media brand. With his leadership, the company has seen record revenue and audience growth and expanded its global footprint through several impactful partnerships throughout the world.
Previously, he was Chief Growth Officer and Global Head of Strategic Partnerships in which he oversaw Bloomberg Media's digital business and platforms, including the growth of Bloomberg Media's consumer revenue and subscriptions, and expansion into over-the-top (OTT) streaming
video through Bloomberg TV+ and Bloomberg Quicktake.
Prior to joining Bloomberg, Scott was SVP of Digital at Time Inc., where he managed operations
and drove the strategic development of digital products within the news, business, sports, and
entertainment verticals, including People, Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Entertainment
Weekly and other titles. Scott was also previously President of The Atlantic, playing a key role in
the successful digital transformation of the magazine, including strategy and operational roles in
the digital launches of The Atlantic Wire, Quartz and CityLab, which was acquired by Bloomberg Media in 2019. He served as Executive Director at Condé Nast Business Media and is a founder of the innovative business site Portfolio.com. Scott formerly managed the business development team at Yahoo! Finance.
Scott is a graduate of Hamilton College with a BA in Economics and received an MBA in
finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business. He lives in New Canaan, CT with his wife and three children.

Bruce Daisley is one of the UK's most influential voices on fixing work, published in the Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. He is a regular contributor to Wired. His book was the UK's top selling business hardback of 2019 and is an international bestseller - now translated into 15 languages. Previously he spent over a decade running Twitter and YouTube (the latter at Google) for Europe, leaving Twitter as its most senior leader outside of the US.

Bruce runs the Apple #1 Business Chart topping podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat on work culture. His second book, Fortitude, about how we think about resilience incorrectly, is published on 25th August 2022.

Chris is the CEO for Bauer Media Publishing in the UK, responsible for over 80 brands in a portfolio that spans print, digital, audio and events activities. He is also a board member of the distribution venture Frontline and the industry measurement body PAMCO. Prior to joining Bauer in April 2020 he was MD of a CRM agency before spending 12 years at News UK in a number of roles including Chief Customer Officer and Managing Director of Times Media.

Sean is CEO of Immediate, home to trusted brands that people love, including Radio Times, Good Food, BBC Gardeners’ World magazine, HistoryExtra and Nutracheck. 

An experienced digital leader, in both fast-scaling and high-growth digital pure-plays and established global brands, Sean has a strong track record of building and leading significant revenue generating businesses, through accelerating growth, driving change and scaling operations. 

Sean joined Immediate in 2021 as Platforms CEO, with responsibility for Immediate’s digital businesses, and was named as CEO of Immediate in May 2023. 

Prior to joining Immediate, Sean was CEO of Direct Ferries, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer of Travelex and COO of Shutl, as well previously holding other senior general management and marketing roles at eHarmony and Google. 

Jim Mullen is the Chief Executive Officer of Reach plc, the largest commercial news publisher in the UK and Ireland. 

Jim has over 30 years experience in a wide variety of sectors, from technology and software, media and advertising, both digital and traditional, retail, gaming and international business. He has led business and operations in the UK, US, EMEA and APAC regions. He was Managing Director of Ladbrokes Digital, Chief Operating Officer and Director of International Business at William Hill Online and Director of Digital Strategy and Product at News International. 

Prior to joining Reach in 2019 he was Chief Executive of Ladbrokes PLC and Ladbrokes Coral PLC, after the merger between Ladbrokes and Gala Coral. He is currently the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Racecourse Media Group and Non-Executive Director of PA Media.

Jo Bucci currently holds the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Chronicle, the oldest and most influential Jewish publication in the world. Jo’s appointment includes overseeing a digital transformation of the JC.

In October 2019, Jo Bucci was appointed as General Manager, The Sun.
In her role, her responsibility expanded across all of the gaming, sports betting and bingo for News UK as well as the financial performance of The Sun, setting and implementing brand strategies for long-term cross-platform growth.

Previously Jo was Chief Operating Officer at Wireless, and has been a pivotal force in the successful integration of the radio businesses into News UK - including Virgin Radio UK, talkSPORT and talkRADIO.

Prior to Wireless, Jo was Managing Director of the People's Postcode Lottery a role which saw her launch the lottery and take it to a £450m turnover.

 Jo was Deputy Chief Executive of Leicester City Football Club and Group Managing Director of Capital Radio Group.

Non-executive:

Chair- Audioadpro 2023 - Present

Director Maggie’s Cancer Care 2019 – present

INED - BOTB Plc 2022- 2023

Chair of the lottery council 2016 - 2018

Jack Davenport is the co-founder of Goalhanger, the UK's biggest podcast company. They make 13 shows including the international smash hit The Rest Is History, and The Rest Is Politics, the most listened-to podcast in the UK.

Jack started his career at the BBC in 2011, working as a phone answerer on late night phone-in shows across BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio Manchester. He rose through the ranks to become the youngest Senior Journalist at 5 live Sport, producing live sport coverage from around the world, including the 2016 Olympics, Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao, and Wimbledon.

He left the BBC in 2018 to set up an audio production business specialising in podcasts and live event coverage. In 2020, he co-created The Rest Is History with Goalhanger Films co-founder and former ITV executive Tony Pastor, and in 2022 they combined forces to co-found Goalhanger Podcasts. 

Goalhanger's shows now reach tens of millions across the world, and have expanded from audio into social media, digital video, live events, publishing and TV. 

Tracy De Groose is a transformative leader known for driving bold change and inspiring teams to think differently. As CEO of William Reed, she is evolving the business beyond its traditional publishing roots, building a modern, insight-led media company that combines trusted content with vibrant communities and data-driven intelligence.

Her leadership draws on decades of experience driving growth and innovation. At Dentsu UK, Tracy doubled revenues and scaled the business to over 4,000 employees. At Newsworks, she championed trusted journalism and led industry-wide collaborations. Earlier, she revitalised Stella Artois into an £800m brand.

Tracy is passionate about nurturing young creative talent, having been a Speaker for Schools for eight years. She launched initiatives like fortysix and The Code and believes every business should invest in the next generation – a principle reflected in William Reed’s plans to support entry-level talent. She has been recognised as one of London’s most influential people and a Woman to Watch Europe by Advertising Age.

Chris was named EVP, Publisher, The Times & The Sunday Times in 2022. He oversees all aspects of The Times’ business: across digital platforms, in print, through the highly influential Times Radio and an award-winning roster of podcasts and events. 

The Times and The Sunday Times reach more than 17m readers each month across print and digital platforms. They are the #1 quality newsbrands in the UK.

Working with editors Tony Gallagher and Ben Taylor – along with his senior leadership team – Chris is driving continued growth in digital subscriptions and revenues, ensuring that Times products are best-in-market and delivering effective solutions for our advertisers and commercial partners.

Previously, Chris was News UK’s Chief Financial Officer for a decade, having been Managing Director of Operations from December 2010. He joined the business in 2009.

Chris is a qualified chartered accountant and has undertaken a number of finance roles outside of the newspaper industry in Russia, South Africa, New Zealand and the UK.